The Grim Cellar

2002, US, Directed by Mark Romanek

Colour, Running Time: 92 minutes

DVD, Region 2, Fox, Video: Anamorphic 1.85:1, Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1

People who process film in photography shops are probably the most harmless you can imagine - I should know because I worked in one myself about twenty years ago. We were all pretty geeky and quite feeble for the most part and that’s almost exactly how Sy Parrish could be described in the early stages of One Hour Photo. He’s obsessively meticulous about his responsibility for customer’s photographs, ensuring their quality is maintained to (largely unnoticeable) high standards and the machines kept up to required specification. The only trouble is that he also takes extra sets of prints for himself to place on the wall at home, mostly of a family he has become enamoured with to a point way beyond mere fascination. He envies the beauty of their togetherness while his isolation is almost suffocating, therefore he develops a coping strategy imagining that he’s actually part of their family. Then his grip on things begins to slip: his boss finds out that the figures aren’t matching the number of photos that have apparently been produced and, in attempt to protect him and his own family, he lets Sy go telling him to finish off the week. To add to Sy’s turmoil he finds that Nina, the mother of the family he’s become fixated with, is being cheated on by her husband Will - a young woman brings some photos into Sy’s store that give the game away. Making efforts to get the secret out, perhaps so Nina might take more than a platonic glance at him, Sy swaps the prints brought in by Nina with those of the young whore who Will is mating with. When things don’t quite go as he expected them to his conscious torment is externalised and some sort of personal revenge on Will is executed.

The film is almost exclusively a character study; an analysis of Sy’s interaction with a world he’s internally at odds with, a glimpse of the immediate world around him and how it affects his life whilst simultaneously outlining the effect that he attempts to have on the world. In most respects he simply wants what’s considered to be normality, to be part of a family and actually be loved in a conventional manner, but the whole idealistic dream is evasive in the extreme and destined to be unattainable. Sometimes perhaps the faults hardwired into a brain cannot be repaired, such is the delicacy of our upbringings. He has also possibly allowed himself to fall in love with Nina, this fuelling the anger he feels when he finds out her husband is having an affair - something he’d never do. Plus Nina and Will have a young boy who he imagines himself being an uncle to and an unfulfilled attempt to give the boy a gift only adds to the anguish that builds towards his eventual loss of control. By the film’s conclusion we come to understand a little about Sy’s history and why he is psychologically unstable and desperate to the extreme, this delineation of character putting the viewer in a situation where they face empathising with a person who would have caused abhorrence had they been merely read about him and his crime in the newspaper or the like. The fact that such sympathy is elicited (at least in those capable of such a response) should send an appropriately sensible message about the nature of human evils: monsters are less likely to be born than made, usually by other monsters. Undoubtedly it will still be difficult for some to accept something which prevents them from expressing narrow-minded hatred for that which they don’t have the time, patience, or capability to understand but director Romanek makes a very potent point and this social commentary is in no small terms aided by Robin Williams’ riveting performance against expected type as Sy.

The Fox DVD presents an image with strong colours that’s consistently attractive to view. Alongside that is a 5.1 track that is subtle for the most part but making extremely effective use of the pulsing score. A sentient movie that makes a powerful statement while weaving fascinating character observation and evolution along the way.

1999, US/France/Spain, Directed by Roman Polanski

Colour, Running Time: 128 minutes

DVD, Region 2, Universal, Video: Anamorphic 2.35:1, Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1

Whilst not considered a genre director, Polanski has visited horror and the supernatural on a number of occasions, bringing several brilliant excursions to the screen in the process. The first of these was the vivid exercise in mental deterioration and paranoia resulting in murder, Repulsion, still a powerful piece with an amazing central performance by Catherine Deneuve. This was followed by the Hammer homage/parody, Dance of the Vampires (on DVD as The Fearless Vampire Killers, its American title), something which is often misunderstood, possibly because it both was ahead of its time and possessed an unusual sense of humour that wriggles over most heads. Incorporating lovably offbeat performances (no stranger to acting, Polanski himself played one of the main roles) while creating a tangible atmosphere in its gothic trappings and hinting at apocalypse for the conclusion, Dance… works well for me. Then came the iconic Rosemary’s Baby, a perfectly ambiguous tale of possible satanic impregnation (the build-up to the birth of the Devil’s child), mistrust and delirium. After the horrendous violence of his version of Macbeth, there came the lesser known but quite superb Le Locataire (or The Tenant) in the mid seventies, where Polanski successfully took centre stage as the main character who undergoes psychological disintegration as he suspects his neighbours drove the previous occupant of his apartment to attempt suicide and are now doing the same to him. The spiralling madness of this film is superbly orchestrated and it’s a pity that it is not more widely acclaimed. 

Two decades later there was The Ninth Gate, a slow paced, deliberate supernatural detective movie condemned by many on its release and, much like the director himself has sometimes been, generally misunderstood. Taking the book El Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte as the source of inspiration, John Brownjohn, Enrique Urbizu, and Polanski removed entirely a secondary plot about a lost chapter to The Three Musketeers to focus their screenplay on the pursuit of a book containing an incantation to summon Satan - they wisely re-titled the film to reflect this shift in focus thereby openly acknowledging that the film was never going to be a 100% literal adaptation. Polanski’s first choice for the book detective Dean Corso was Johnny Depp, and Depp obliged by jumping on board and making the role his own in an understated performance that lends Corso a bit of mystery, his life outside of book obsession given little attention. Different to how the director originally envisaged Corso, Depp’s work here nevertheless pleased Polanski and functions nicely. Corso is hired by Boris Balkan, an authoritative Frank Langella, to track down several other copies of a rare occult book that Balkan has in his collection, an attempt to authenticate one of them and thus provide him with the means of granting manifestation to the Devil. Accepting a large paycheque Corso heads off to Europe to take a closer look at the few remaining copies, but he quickly realises that he’s not the only one interested in the book as several strange people seem to be on his tail. The plot also deepens as Corso’s analyses reveal that it may not be one book that is completely authentic, but a combination of all three, and Balkan will seemingly pay any price to carry out his ritual. Quite why The Ninth Gate seemed to attract a few bad reviews I’m not really sure, but I find the story, dialogue, and character interactions to be particularly gripping, the film appropriately constructing a world that evokes supernatural ambience without overtly indicating that such manifestations are definitely possible, the ambiguity of which being something that arises out of Polanski‘s personal disinterest in the Devil‘s existence, this paradoxically enhancing the supernatural material that he has worked on. Polanksi’s wife, Emmanuelle Seigner, looks at home in the role of a woman who herself may be a physical embodiment of Satan, with her strikingly European face and strong presence, and in supporting capacity there is Swedish-born Lena Olin as Liana Telfer, an incredibly sexy older woman who also seems to have a fanatical interest in the book that Balkan purchased off her husband the day before he killed himself. The score written by Wojciech Kilar really adds meat to the strange world we inhabit with the characters, sometimes quirky, occasionally creepy but always hinting at something unexplainable co-existing with humanity. This was the same man who provided the sweepingly powerful score to Bram Stoker’s Dracula in the early 90s, though he generally tends to work in Polish cinema. Conveying a prominent love of books as both a physical entity and carrier of knowledge, Polanski’s film takes us on an adventure with its protagonist into the delights (or tortures) of the beckoning unknown.

Universal’s now quite old DVD presents the film correctly in (anamorphic) 2.35:1 and looks quite good, more so in exterior shots, however there is quite a lot of grain and dot crawl during darker sequences. An erring towards almost sepia-tinged interior photography does not lend itself well to chromatic vibrancy and a HD upgrade would be welcome, but overall the transfer here is not too bad. The Dolby track doesn’t possess much ‘oomph’ but is suitable enough for the wonderful music and otherwise mostly vocally driven soundtrack. Aside from stills, drawings and a hopeless promotional featurette (running a whopping two minutes in length), there are the worthwhile inclusions of a slow-talking Polanski commentary, and an isolated music track giving us the chance to enjoy Kilar’s score without sound effects and character dialogue. Settle back for a slightly old fashioned but carefully constructed voyage through a world of the subtle uncanny towards an indiscernible destination.

1951, US, Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Black & White, Running Time: 96 minutes

DVD, Region 2, Warner, Video: 1.33:1, Audio: Mono

Professional tennis star Guy Haines is about to go through a bitter divorce with his argumentative coquette of a wife when he meets someone during a train journey who claims to be a fan of his, the man turning out to be surprisingly knowledgeable about Haines and his domestically dramatic life. The sociopath introduces himself as Bruno Anthony and proceeds to at first jokingly hint that they could exchange murders - Bruno murders Haines’s adulteress spouse while Haines kills Bruno’s unwanted father. Not entirely sure how to take such an unorthodox suggestion Haines humours Bruno before leaving him to his business but it seems the man was deadly serious when he later follows Mrs Haines on one of her flirtatious outings to a fairground where he takes her aside and strangles her. Before Haines is officially told of the news Bruno catches up with him and updates the understandably shocked sportsman, but then he is demanding that Haines carries out his part of the perceived bargain and begins making plans to facilitate his father’s murder. Between a rock and a hard place, Haines feels unable to tell the police as Bruno persuades him that Haines would be implicated anyway due to having a strong motive, etc. It seems the police are already following that lead up but the only person that Haines claims saw him at the time of the murder turns out to be too inebriated to remember anything anyway, thus the problem-stricken man finds himself at the centre of a murder investigation and fighting for his innocence, while on the other hand being pushed into a possible genuine murder by a psychopathic man that won’t leave him alone.

The concluding years of the forties and opening section of the fifties had not been especially kind to Hitchcock: Rope, despite being quite daringly experimental, was a commercial failure, while Under Capricorn was a bit of a mess with its long takes requiring set alterations while the camera was rolling in order to facilitate its movements, etc. Reviews of the Ingrid Bergman vehicle weren’t good, not helped by her publicised and media condemned affair with Roberto Rossellini. Stage Fright, an expected return to ‘classic’ Hitchcock form, was rushed into production but turned out to be a little boring - though at least it temporarily appeased Warner Bros., who were at that time unsure about green-lighting the convicted priest film that later became the brilliant I Confess (Catholicism had an influence over film censorship at that period). It was shortly after production of Stage Fright that Hitchcock, his wife (who assisted to no small extent with the writing of his films), and playwright Whitfield Cook became excited about a debut novel by Patricia Highsmith called Strangers on a Train, thus the rights were purchased cheaply (because she was an unknown at the time) and the story adapted into a treatment by Cook for a screenplay by Raymond Chandler, and subsequently Czenzi Ormonde. Elements were changed in the treatment, as they virtually always are with film adaptations, the most notable being the fact that the two central men actually do each other’s murder in the book whereas Haines is a little too weedy and moralistic to kill anyone in the film. The book ends with Bruno dying on a boat and Haines being apprehended by police, so it’s fairly different from the outcome of the movie. The direction is smart and inventive with a style of cinematography that hints at film noir, the gorgeous Black and White imagery suiting the atmosphere exceedingly well. While Farley Granger deliberately plays Haines as a wet rag, Robert Walker is sinister as the unpredictable sociopathic killer Bruno. One bit of casting I love is Patricia Hitchcock (i.e. Alfred’s daughter) as a young amateur sleuth who closely resembles the woman Bruno kills, causing him to lose control at one point and almost strangle another female. Her naïve but perceptive observations on the case at hand bring a little light-heartedness at punctuating points helping to balance out the film’s darker moments and, surely considering this was only 1951, the morbidity is quite strong when it comes to the murder of Haines’s wife: technically taking place off screen Hitchcock still permits the viewer to witness the event as the woman’s broken glasses distortedly reflect the entire action. Despite quite a few problems with censors over the years (many of his projects were changed prior to filming to comply with censorship guidelines and feedback) he continuously pushed boundaries when it came to violence, though this obviously comes second place to his sheer technical brilliance as a film-maker. One other commendable feature of Strangers on a Train is its almost unnoticeable use of special effects, composited shots of miniatures with live actors and the like. Special effects work is not something one thinks about while watching a film such as this and that itself is a testament to their brilliant implementation here. Strangers on a Train is a classic thriller and probably one of its director’s best.

Warner give great present presentation to the film with this double disc release, containing both a preview version and the final cut (with commentary), plus a 36 minute documentary featuring biographers and critics offering opinion alongside Patricia Hitchcock, Farley Granger and Walker‘s son (who looks so much like him I thought it was for a second). A great companion piece, though utilising clips from the film to excess I feel. M. Night Shyamalan makes an appearance for a 12 minute personal evaluation: not as bad as expected he offers genuinely insightful reasoning for his appreciation and touches on a very valid point regarding Hitchcock’s incredible talent for long but gripping dialogue scenes (one of which makes up a portion of the opening act when the two leads meet each other on the eponymous vehicle). There’s a couple of other featurette containing old 8 or 16mm footage of Hitchcock and his family along with some of their recollections laying down for us the legacy of an incredibly important figure in cinema history. The film itself for both versions looks superb, with generally consistent contrast levels and a huge amount of detail considering it’s only standard definition. A great package, both the film and DVD.

2007, US, Directed by David Fincher

Colour, Running Time: 158 minutes

Cinema screening, Image: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Filmstream 4:4:4, Audio: English language

Based on Robert Graysmith’s book and featuring the man himself as one of the primary characters (played charismatically by Jake Gyllenhaal), Zodiac chronicles real events from 1969 onwards delineating the exploits of the so called ‘Zodiac Killer’ mostly through the eyes of the media, police investigators, and Graysmith himself. Beginning with the shooting of two lovers the publicity-seeking killer repeatedly sends letters to the San Francisco police and newspaper, combining codes for them to decipher and generally playing games with them, ultimately demeaning the psychological comfort of everyone who is entwined in the case on a professional level. Graysmith, the newspaper cartoonist, is present at the editorial meetings when these codes are first received and, despite nobody really being interested in his opinion, becomes fascinated enough to attempt personal interpretations of the killer’s thought patterns, later on obsessively launching a near full-scale investigation of his own, at the possible expense of domestic relationships.

Having a trail of critically recognised work behind him Fincher’s output is going to be of note for the foreseeable future and one has come to expect something special from the man who gave us Se7en, Fight Club, The Game and, yeah, Alien 3. The problem for me with the material here is the impression that it doesn’t seem all that special. Comparisons to Se7en may be expected beforehand but this is quite a different movie. It is technically accomplished on virtually all levels, showcasing convincing performances throughout (including the supremely gifted Chloë Sevigny, one of my favourite actresses), realistic photography, relentless pursuit of detail, etc. But at foundation it’s only a serial killer story and with little attention to what happened to victims we’re essentially left with one (very long) investigation. The script invariably focuses on discussions regarding the killer but virtually nothing else (for example, character personal lives, other than how they’re affected by the case), and it becomes exhausting, though it’s very well written and executed. For me the film takes off a little when Graysmith pretty much (unofficially) adopts the case because the product becomes slightly more personal as the viewer is able to identify with his character probably more than most of them.

Without wishing to give too much away, assuming that some are not aware of the details of the actual case or book, the fundamental issue is that the source material never had anywhere to go, which is a problem in cinematic terms - though there are a couple of semi-dramatic sequences inserted along the way that help alleviate this drawback. It left me almost wondering why this book/story was worth putting so much effort into meticulously filming (again). As a thriller it’s a brilliantly made piece of work but it will numb the backside at two and a half hours and possibly leave you coming away wondering where the climax was, though perhaps the absence of a climax will cause some to wander away pondering on the material and maybe that’s part of the point? Anyway, if you like very talky, adeptly constructed thrillers then there’s a chance you’ll enjoy this.

1998, USA, Directed by Mimi Leder

Colour, Running Time: 121 minutes

DVD, Region 2, DreamWorks, Video: Anamorphic 2.35:1, Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1

Schoolboy Leo Beiderman (Elijah Wood) notices an apparently uncharted object in the skies while on an astronomy observation lesson and the details are sent to a professional astronomer for assessment. He in turn realises that it’s actually a comet on a path for Earth but, as fate would have it, on his way to deliver the news to seniors he is killed in a motor crash. Some time later career-motivated reporter Jenny Lerner (Téa Leoni) stumbles across a politically problematic story regarding a womanising senator’s resignation, not realising that his motivation was more to do with The End Of The World rather than the non-existent mistress that Lerner initially suspects. Following a press conference that reveals that there is indeed a comet on a collision path for Earth, a ship is launched with the intention of landing on the comet and detonating nuclear warheads beneath its surface, thereby hopefully breaking it into smaller chunks and removing the threat. The problem is not as easily solved as this and before long the president (Morgan Freeman) is revealing that subterranean bunkers are being set up for an admittance lottery system that could ultimately choose who lives and who dies.

Released around the same time as the similar Armageddon I always felt this was a much better film, partly because it steers further away from the emphasis on ridiculous OTT action and characters of Jerry Bruckheimer’s audience friendly material, and partly because Deep Impact focuses more on the human relationships that are affected in the event of a looming apocalypse. When one of the chunks of comet hits the ocean, sending huge tidal waves towards land, it really does have an impact (particularly disturbing seeing the Twin Towers sent down as the wave hits Manhattan) and is all the more effective because the writers have bothered to set up characters that we remotely care about. That’s not to say it’s not flawed but it does work well on its own terms. It sort of reminds me of an updated version of When Worlds Collide actually (don’t worry, that’s not giving away the ending).

I originally bought the first UK release of this and that’s what this review is based upon. Virtually extra-less, it featured a good anamorphic image (a step up from the US disc, which was letterboxed) and strong 5.1 track, however it has since been superseded by a Special Edition in both territories that makes it even more of a worthwhile purchase. For a human apocalyptic science fiction story Deep Impact makes for a more intelligent (aside from a few moments) and enjoyable experience to the comparatively popcorn orientated Armageddon.

2002, UK/USA, Directed by Rob Bowman

Colour, Running Time: 98 minutes

DVD, Region 2, Buena Vista, Video: Anamorphic 2.35:1, Audio: DTS

Tunnelling work beneath London reveals a hitherto dormant race of dragons that break loose and reap havoc on mankind to the point of near genocide. Spreading like a plague across the planet the dragons, who were supposedly the cause of dinosaur extinction before going into subterranean hibernation, once more become the dominant species while surviving humans are forced into small groups of stationary or travelling communities. Two such communities come together but their leaders are prone to differing views on how to proceed, Quinn (Christian Bale) believes that they should remain put to survive, whereas the militaristic Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey) clicks on to the probability that all of the dragon eggs are fertilised by one male and wants to take a chance to track it down to kill it, and therefore the entire reptilian race.

An apocalyptic science fiction (though not set that far ahead in the future), Reign of Fire was not critically successful but coming to the film after all the negative fuss died down I found a reasonably entertaining thriller, though possibly a little miserable in its general ambience. Bale continues to prove versatility as an actor and McConaughey is unrecognisable as the perpetually angry marine. The dragons themselves, while hardly evident of a risk-taking design ethic, are amazing creations but remain less used in the plot than one would have expected. Reduce your expectations and you may have a fairly good time with this, plus at an hour and a half it doesn’t outstay any welcome.

Being a recent film it’s no surprise that the transfer is DVD demonstration material: an exceptionally detailed image combined with aggressive 5.1 tracks (including DTS). Though under-specified as far as extras are concerned Reign of Fire makes for something worth risking a few quid on certainly.

1971, UK, Directed by Sam Peckinpah

Colour, Running Time: 117 minutes

DVD, Region 1, Criterion, Video: Anamorphic 1.78:1, Audio: Mono

A social horror tale based on a novel by Gordon Williams, Straw Dogs introduces us to a married couple who have moved into a rural house in an almost backward Cornish village. American mathematician David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman) and his English wife, Amy (Susan George), are immediately at odds with the locals for one reason or another - David as the ultimate outsider is constantly embarrassed by his inability to integrate, and Amy as a source of sexual enticement (the first shot we see of her is her clothed but visible nipples). A series of events gradually escalate to levels of hostility, then rape, then all-out violence and murder as a suspected paedophile ends up in David’s house while a lynch mob forms outside as he refuses to surrender the man to the undiplomatic bunch. As the mob become increasingly aggressive the overly conditioned intellectual David is pushed further and further until he is finally forced to descend to the only means of communication that they will understand: violence.

A pretty shocking portrayal of human primordial instincts stubbornly existing in a world where they have been all but swept under the carpet - David is a person who will shy away from aggression at all costs, until he is finally backed into a corner and there is no other option. This is illustrated very early on when a minor fight breaks out at the pub and he kind of worms his way into the background not entirely sure what he should be doing (apart from avoiding conflict). The film caused problems with the censors in England (rejected for a video certificate as recently as 1999), mainly due to the rape of Amy - initially her obligatory refusal of the attacker (someone she had a relationship with years earlier) turns to some sort of instinctive acceptance (i.e. part of her actually enjoys what happens), but this is followed by a more brutal and terrifying attack by someone else that leaves her emotionally ruined. David’s absolute denial of his own innate aggression presents him as a spineless weakling but really he is not so different to how most ‘decent’ people today have been conditioned against surrendering to the lower cerebral functions. A gripping and historically significant film that almost makes for a psychological study on the animal still residing somewhere in most humans. On a more technical level, I think Peckinpah’s visual compositions (particularly as the events of the film become increasingly chaotic) are amazing, as are some of the employed editing techniques. It’s a great piece of work all round.

In the UK there was a pretty good special edition on DVD, later followed by the bare-bones budget disc that you can get today. That’s okay but the definitive release remains the Criterion two disc set put out several years ago. The transfer is stunning and it is complemented by just about anything that can be a considered worthwhile bonus including a feature-length documentary on Peckinpah himself, onset footage and interviews from 1971, a neat booklet, isolated music score, etc. Cinema fans should own this.

1973, USA, Directed by George A. Romero

Colour, Running Time: 98 minutes

DVD, Region 2, Anchor Bay, Video: Anamorphic 1.66:1, Audio: DTS

A small town in Pennsylvania: people are inexplicably beginning to act abnormally to the point of becoming homicidal and before long the army themselves are brought in to seal off the area, indicating that the problem is worse than it first might appear. The problem is worse alright, because they caused it. Trying to sort out a ‘typical army f**k-up’ (in the classic words of James Karen in Return of the Living Dead!) the military become increasingly heavy-handed with the essentially innocent victims of what turns out to be an experimental government biological weapon - a small group of survivors attempt to escape the escalating bloody mayhem.

Following worldwide success with Night of the Living Dead (though strangely missing any financial rewards for its makers) and a couple insipid movies (the rather boring Jack’s Wife and the elusive There’s Always Vanilla) Romero proceeded to direct this low budget horror/thriller with a frenetic pace, nicely capturing the climbing tension that the situation arouses in both civilians and the military operatives that are forced to try to clean up the mess. Innocent people gradually descend into madness as they succumb to the virus (that is probably in the water), usually killing each other or, at one point, engaging in incestuous activity. As the army begin firing first and asking later a level of sympathy for the civilians is successfully built up by Romero, while the oppressive ambience that evolves as the army exacerbate their attempts to contain the problem hits poignant heights. The action, whilst clearly struggling to develop beyond its budgetary limitations, is fairly effective and nicely edited. Some of the performances come across as pretty convincing - Romero has often seemed adept at invoking good character acting from his players. This film comes across almost as a nice stepping stone between the aforementioned 1968 film and Dawn of the Dead, which later came in 1978 - if you replaced the ‘crazy’ people with walking corpses, it could easily be part of Romero’s Dead series. By the way, you may notice Richard Liberty turning up, who later played one of my favourite characters in Day of the Dead!

Any apparent grain or lack of definition with background detail of the image might betray the fact that it was shot on 16mm (being blown up to 35mm originally for theatrical presentations), but it looks superb considering (Romero even claims that some of it looks better than when it was shot, thanks to some modern digital restoration techniques). Plus, the 1.66:1 intended viewing ratio is retained in this anamorphic image with pillar-boxing: well done!! I’m sick of seeing 1.66:1 films cropped to fit a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. Anchor Bay, as usual, provide DTS and DD5.1 ’surround’ mixes that are somewhat artificial but may suit individual viewer preferences - sound otherwise suffers from its original technical limitations. Blue Underground released this stateside and, whilst I’ve not seen that disc, I suspect it will provide a marginally sharper picture due to the probability that the AB version is an NTSC to PAL transfer, however the BU does not provide the 5.1 options. A fairly extensive extras roster rounds out an excellent release of an enjoyable film.

1965, UK, Directed by Seth Holt

Black and White, Running Time: 89 minutes

DVD, Region 2, Optimum, Video: Anamorphic 1.78:1, Audio: Mono

Some time after Joey’s little sister suffers a fatal ‘accident’ in a bath tub he returns home from the institution where he was sent after having been accused of causing the death. All is obviously not right with the family - his dad is uptight, his mom a nervous wreck, and the nanny that his parents employ is downright sinister. From there begins a series of abnormal occurrences such as poisoning of the mom, alleged attempted drowning of Joey, etc.; the ambiguity of which makes it difficult to directly attribute the problems to either Joey or the nanny. From the start Joey is revealed to be a mischievous little bugger who likes to play ‘jokes’ on anyone who will respond with horror (such as tricking one of the nurses at the hospital that he has hung himself), while the nanny herself is clearly missing tight screws here and there.

This has been quite an elusive Hammer title for years but it was worth the wait to see. Having previously directed the brilliant Taste of Fear for Hammer, Holt shoots with flair composing some great images while the B&W cinematography is very attractive. Simpson’s editing is masterful and the film is briefly complemented by a nice introductory score by Richard Bennett. The relationship between Joey (William Dix) and the nanny (Bette Davis), around which much of the film revolves, is quite engaging and there is a dark edge to many of their interactions. The gorgeous and hugely talented ‘child’ actor, Pamela Franklin (The Innocents, Our Mother’s House), makes an appearance as the girl who lives upstairs, occasionally giving Joey lip or getting him into trouble - she tried to make it as an adult star I think but choosing stuff like Legend of Hell House was probably not the best career strategy. She ended up doing a lot of TV work, but her innate talent shows through here. Generally I liked the performances of all of the leads. This is an offbeat and pretty dark tale that’s worth checking out.

Not razor sharp but certainly very good looking on DVD, this is available as part of the Ultimate Hammer Collection from Optimum. It’s one of the better films in the boxed set and it can be purchased pretty cheaply by itself if preferred. Combined with a commentary and being exclusive to the UK I’d say this is recommended.

1972, UK, Directed by Peter Collinson

Colour, Running Time: 92 minutes

DVD, Region 2, Optimum, Video: Anamorphic 1.66:1, Audio: Mono

The rather naive Brenda (or Wendy, as she’s later known) leaves home to head for London in search of someone to father a child. There she manages to get a job in a record shop and making one or two friends in the process. Meeting what she believes to be a suitable partner at a party (James Bolam!) she later finds him in bed with her friend and heads off outside, an emotional mess. There she sees another eligible partner in the shape of Peter. Formulating a plan to get to meet him (stealing his dog in order to take it back to Peter’s address after having ‘found’ it) she ends up moving in after revealing to him that she wants a child - he in turn apparently wants someone to do the house chores, cleaning, etc. But the silly girl doesn’t click on to the fact that’s obvious to viewers: he’s a complete psychopath who has a problem with beauty. This is temporarily fortunate for her because she’s actually quite ugly - a trip to the beautician later on doesn’t even do the trick (she comes out looking like a Wizard of Oz reject) - but, nevertheless and as others before her have discovered to their own disadvantage, her life is at risk.

More of a thriller from Hammer and set in the modern day, the first 15 minutes or so setting up Straight On… is unnecessarily chaotic thanks to the erratic editing, but once the film settles down it becomes reasonably enjoyable and quite disturbing in some ways. Rita Tushingham’s performance as the child-like ugly duckling is good and endearing; Shane Briant as Peter comes across as decidedly odd, almost androgynous; the great James Bolam is underused unfortunately. The killer’s motivations seem like something out of an Italian Giallo, though, apart from the brief but admittedly horrible (despite no real gore being shown) ‘murder’ scenes, the film doesn’t stray too much into horror territory. However the final act (the tape playback scene) actually sent a chill through my blood, something that rarely happens with a Hammer film (it’s even got an 18 certificate here in the UK!). In some respects this oddity can be considered a successful venture.

The Optimum DVD picture quality is excellent with lots of detail and nice colours, and presented correctly at 1.66:1. It also features a commentary by Tushingham and is therefore pretty much identical to the US disc put out several years back, i.e. the film is better specified on DVD than you’d expect for such an obscurity. Worth checking out.